If it is monitored directly by the fire brigade (thinking commercial premises here) then yes, keys, access cards and access codes are supplied to and held at the local fire station, when the alarm is triggered the key code is passed to the brigade and they bring the keys with them when responding.

If it is monitored by a 3rd party, eg ADT, then no, FENZ will not have direct access to these codes. You would supply the code to the alarm monitoring company, and have this company badge displayed somewhere obvious. When the brigade arrives, they will request the alarm company's attendance to gain access.

Unless the place is obviously on fire of course, in which case they will force access

Yes they hold such information, which comes up on the operator's screen when the alarm is activated. When they contact the emergency services they pass it on.

They're pretty fast, as we discovered not long after moving in. SWMBO, being unfamiliar with ancient heating devices like woodburners, threw open the door one Sunday morning at 0730, releasing clouds of wood smoke into the kitchen/living room. Alarm goes off, waking me from my rest. I stumble out just as she turns off the alarm.

Yes they hold such information, which comes up on the operator's screen when the alarm is activated. When they contact the emergency services they pass it on.

They're pretty fast, as we discovered not long after moving in. SWMBO, being unfamiliar with ancient heating devices like woodburners, threw open the door one Sunday morning at 0730, releasing clouds of wood smoke into the kitchen/living room. Alarm goes off, waking me from my rest. I stumble out just as she turns off the alarm.

When I worked in the UK fitting security doors to high rise buildings, we always fitted a Firemans Entry switch. Every building has the same panel and we sometimes fitted them to security gates at schools etc. Then each fire truck only needed 1 key. I always wondered what they did here.

If it is monitored directly by the fire brigade (thinking commercial premises here) then yes, keys, access cards and access codes are supplied to and held at the local fire station, when the alarm is triggered the key code is passed to the brigade and they bring the keys with them when responding.

If it is monitored by a 3rd party, eg ADT, then no, FENZ will not have direct access to these codes. You would supply the code to the alarm monitoring company, and have this company badge displayed somewhere obvious. When the brigade arrives, they will request the alarm company's attendance to gain access.

Unless the place is obviously on fire of course, in which case they will force access

This is accurate.

But forcing access won't be ramming the gate with their truck. They'll probably use the jaws of life to force it open.

And what's your "probably" theory for those brigades that don't carry the so-called jaws of life? Or to be more technically correct, when the first responding appliance is not a PRT? Based on where the OP lives, of the three nearest appliances, and that's two different brigades, none are rescue trucks - so there'll be no jaws of life used.

This probably comes across as quite snarky, and I'm not going to apologise for that. There are comments made in this thread by people who obviously have no idea what they are talking about but yet spout forth such bull-dust as to make themselves sound authoritive. Anyone reading such comments could easily think such twaddle is true and it grinds my gears.

/rant

OP - get in touch with your local chief - he's a good bloke and will be more than happy to dicusss ways and means to gain access in an emergency. He can also let comms know, so they can inform any other brigade responding if the locals aren't first, which is often the case for you during the day - the brigade further west gets turned out as well.

Yes they hold such information, which comes up on the operator's screen when the alarm is activated. When they contact the emergency services they pass it on.

They're pretty fast, as we discovered not long after moving in. SWMBO, being unfamiliar with ancient heating devices like woodburners, threw open the door one Sunday morning at 0730, releasing clouds of wood smoke into the kitchen/living room. Alarm goes off, waking me from my rest. I stumble out just as she turns off the alarm.

I didn't realise rural New Zealand was so dangerous! Maybe you could have your armed guard open the gates if something catches fire? ;)

I would if I could....!

It's not dangerous per se, of course, although the police response from Masterton would be 30 minutes at least and there have been a couple of incidents of nutters on the loose in the time I have been here. It's burglary, mainly. We get a lot of random vehicles coming up the drive and turning round for no apparent reason which is suspicious behaviour in my book and relatively frequently we get burglary sprees in the rural properties. Anything you can do to make it harder for them increases the likelihood they will just pick something easier.

When I worked in the UK fitting security doors to high rise buildings, we always fitted a Firemans Entry switch. Every building has the same panel and we sometimes fitted them to security gates at schools etc. Then each fire truck only needed 1 key. I always wondered what they did here.

Relating to this, A friend of mine who lives in Devonport has a weird curbside and he has to cross a FH to get into his driveway. Without noticing I had parked across such Hydrant for them to tell me "If there was a fire the truck would ram your car out the way to access the hydrant." Would they I wonder? I have a fireman sitting behind me at work, I'll find out soon.